Out Of Control Truck Slams Into West Orange Store Front, Building Condemned

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WEST ORANGE, N.J. (CBSNewYork) — Residents and business owners in West Orange are looking for a new place to stay after an out of control driver slammed his truck into their building on Wednesday.

The damage to the building is extensive and shop owner Silverio Machado told CBS 2’s Hazel Sanchez that a small change to his afternoon routine saved him from getting run over by a flat-bed tow truck when it plowed into his tailor shop.

“Every day I stand in front of the store, but today I fix somebody else’s machine first,” he said.

Machado and his wife, Julia, were in the back of the shop when the truck sped out of control on Main Street, struck a minivan, and crashed into Machado’s Tailor Shop on the corner of Washington Street.

Witnesses said that the crash sounded like an explosion.

“You could hear it when he struck the first vehicle up the street. He pushed it halfway down the street, then you heard a loud boom noise, almost like a bomb went off,” Sean Sims said.

The truck hit three vehicles before crashing into the store front, sending bricks and glass flying everywhere.

The driver suffered minor injuries. He told investigators that his brakes failed. The driver of the van was hospitalized but was not critically injured.

Machado said that he wants to open his shop again in three weeks, but police said that the building has been condemned. Tenants who live upstairs will have to find a new place to live.